The present invention relates as indicated to a plant watering container, and more particularly to a container which can be partially filled with water prior to shipping and is able to accommodate tilting or tipping of the container without spillage during transportation.
There are numerous plant watering systems for systematically supplying water or nutrient-enriched water from a reservoir to the bottom of a pot by capillary action. Many plant species, for example, African violets, clearly prefer bottom watering. Top water tends to result in overwatering of the plant, whereas bottom watering, if properly performed, tends to provide a consistent and adequate supply of moisture to the growing media for the plant without the adverse effects or potential for overwatering.
In standard approximately 4" pots, bottom watering of African violets was provided for in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,343,109 and 4,434,577, issued to Reinhold Holtkamp, Sr. In each of those patents, a water absorbing pad was positioned between the pot and a support member, with the pad including a tab portion extending into a water reservoir for transmitting water by capillary action through the pad into the bottom of the pot. Although such arrangements perform very satisfactorily for pots 4" or larger in diameter, they are not designed for miniaturized pot containers.
Pot miniaturization has developed for numerous species, including African violets. Miniaturized pots, approximately 1.25" up to 2.25" in pot diameter at the top thereof, have been very popular with consumers, and special African violet breeding programs have been developed to miniaturize plants for these pots in such a manner that the plants are proportional in every respect to plants much larger. These miniaturized pots present special problems for bottom watering, and special containers for that purpose have been designed and have achieved considerable commercial success and acceptance. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,996,792 and 5,111,614, also issued to Reinhold Holtkamp, Sr., disclose watering containers which comprise separate but interengageable upper and lower container sections. The lower section defines a water reservoir, with the upper container section being formed with a central opening to receive and support the miniature pot. The plant is watered by means of a wick which extends from the growing media in the pot downwardly into the water reservoir whereby water is transferred by capillary action up into the growing media to provide moisture for the plant.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,996,792 and 5,111,614, a central opening is formed in the top wall of the upper container section, and the miniature pot is formed with an annular flange which engages the portion of the top wall surrounding and defining the central opening. One or more watering wicks are provided, with the lower end of the or each wick extending into the water reservoir, and the upper end of the wick engaging and being retained by a wick holding device which extends upwardly through an opening in the bottom wall of the pot into the growing media. Various wick holding and insertion devices have been devised for that purpose, with two such devices being disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,932,159 and 5,193,305.
Although miniature potted plants and watering containers can be separately supplied to the wholesaler or retailer, it is desirable to assemble the plant with the container. Similarly, although water can be added to the container by the wholesaler or retailer, it is more desirable to provide the water supply at the time of assembly so as to ensure satisfactory watering of the plants during transportation and during handling of the plants and containers for display. This requires that the wick and wick holding device be inserted in the growing media in the pot, and that the wick extend downwardly into the water reservoir when the plant pot and container are assembled. This not only ensures adequate watering during the shipping and handling process, but eliminates the time-consuming need for the recipient, e.g. a retailer, to assemble the wick with the pot, the pot with the container, and to make certain that adequate water is added to the reservoir. Pre-assembly and watering permits the retailer to immediately display the plants and containers while the plant is in optimum condition. This is critically important to the marketing effort.
Although pre-assembling and watering does provide several advantages as noted above, there are also potential problems. With previous containers, it was very important that the container and potted plant be kept generally upright. Tilting or entirely tipping the container onto its side could result in the pot being separated from the upper container section, with the plant itself possibly being separated from the pot. The tipping also caused water in the reservoir to leak outwardly of the upper container section if the water in the reservoir was filled above a fairly low level. Since numerous plants and containers are normally shipped in a single shipping container, the tilting, or tipping of the containers onto their sides, could result in the damage or loss of the entire shipment, or require at the very least replacement of those plants damaged during shipment.
The plant watering system of the invention disclosed in my pending application Ser. No. 08/352,078 attempts to solve the leakage problem resulting from turnover by providing in the upper container section a downwardly directed funnel-shaped wall complementary to the shape of the side wall of the pot and surrounding the same when the pot is mounted in the upper container section. The funnel-shaped wall is open at its bottom and extends downwardly below the bottom wall of the pot. This arrangement provides a continuous annular wall positioned much closer at its bottom to the vertical axis of the container, as a result of which greater amounts of water can be stored in the reservoir before leakage occurs if the container is tipped on its side.
Another arrangement designed to overcome the problem of leakage resulting from tipping of pre-assembled, watered containers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,929. The container assembly disclosed therein comprises upper and lower halves rigidly secured together. The upper half is formed with a re-entrant structure comprised of a side wall which is conical or funnel-shaped and complemental to the angularity of the outer walled surface of the pot to be supported by the container. The side wall of the re-entrant structure is open at the top thereof to receive the pot flange, and also at the bottom thereof. In the preferred form disclosed, the height of the conical wall is less than the side wall of the pot which it supports, and the vertical dimension of the conical wall is substantially less than one half the vertical dimension of the assembled container halves. This greatly limits the depth of water in the reservoir which can be accommodated during transportation and shipping, while still being able to preclude leakage of water in the event the container is fully tipped on its side. Although the patentee contemplated a longer conical re-entrant wall, it is clearly recognized and described that with such longer wall structure, substantially less water can be accommodated in the reservoir before spilling out over and through the conical re-entrant wall and consequently outwardly of the container.
A further described feature of the container illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,929 is the bonding of the two container halves in order to provide a container that will not leak through the connecting joint. Ultrasonic bonding is described as being preferred, although chemical or mechanical techniques could be employed. Although such bonding provides the desired advantage of leakage avoidance during shipping and handling, it has the distinct disadvantage of precluding separation of the container halves or sections by the retailer or ultimate consumer. As a result, in order to replenish the water supply, the pot must be removed from its supported position. Since the conical re-entrant wall tightly frictionally receives the pot, it is potentially difficult to remove the pot without damaging the plant. Moreover, rigidly connecting the container halves results in significant aesthetic and sanitary disadvantages. Algae and dirt particles frequently are present in the reservoir water thereby discoloring the same. Since there is no direct access to the bottom container half except through the open lower end of the re-entrant wall, the reservoir walls are cleaned very infrequently, and then with great difficulty.